minister

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Evangelical Leader Besieged by Multiple Claims of Sex Abuse

International House of Prayer founder Mike Bickle allegedly violated marriage covenant, intimidated victims

(Newser) - The founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, has agreed to step away from public ministry amid an investigation stemming from numerous claims of clergy sex abuse. Leaders of the evangelical church announced Sunday that "we have recently become aware of serious allegations including sexual...

UK Minister Embroiled in Sex Toy Scandal

Mark Garnier admits he asked ex-assistant to buy vibrators, but it was just 'good-humored high jinks'

(Newser) - The Harvey Weinstein case may even be making waves across the pond, with a Tory trade minister facing investigation for allegedly sexually harassing his ex-assistant. Among Caroline Edmondson's accusations, which Mark Garnier doesn't deny: asking her to buy sex toys for him and calling her "sugar tits,...

Ex-Minister Opens Online Christian Sex Shop

Marc Angenent found his calling as a sex therapist

(Newser) - If God gave us bodies, what's so sinful about lust? One former minister's answer to that question became his own website, Love Garden , which sells dildos, prostate stimulators, condoms, and much more, Der Spiegel reports. But Marc Angenent says he believed in the importance of lust even when...

Oh No! Michelle Touched Muslim Indonesian Minister

He seems happy about it in video, but not on Twitter

(Newser) - Last year, Michelle Obama caused an uproar by touching the queen ; this year, she’s making headlines for shaking hands with the Indonesian information minister. Tifatul Sembiring, a conservative Muslim who makes it a point to avoid touching women not related to him, appears to reach out for the first...

Apprentice's Omarosa Takes Attitude to Seminary

(Newser) - Famed reality TV villain Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth has seen the light, E! reports. The Apprentice anti-hero will enter an Ohio seminary next week for 2 years of religious schooling on her way to becoming a minister. Her ambition is in line with her character, an official at the United Theological Seminary...

Mandela's Ex Poised for Return to Power

Critics none too pleased by new role for ex-convict Winnie

(Newser) - Placed high on her party’s list of future MPs, Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is set to return to a central role in South Africa’s government, the Guardian reports. Such a position is already sparking controversy surrounding Madikizela-Mandela's past—including a 2003 fraud conviction when she was...

HBO Doc Unveils Down-and-Out Haggard
HBO Doc Unveils Down-and-Out Haggard

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HBO Doc Unveils Down-and-Out Haggard

"Wincingly candid" documentary set to air Jan. 29 on HBO

(Newser) - A new HBO documentary on Ted Haggard catches the disgraced minister at his most candid and vulnerable, Newsweek reports. Emmy-winning director Alexandra Pelosi shot the film impromptu, capturing Haggard the failed insurance salesman as he struggles with gay feelings and looks out the window at his old church. But hasn't...

We Aimed to Murder 5,000: Mumbai Terrorist

'I have done right,' militant declares to police

(Newser) - The lone Mumbai terrorist captured alive said months of training had prepped him and his cohorts to kill 5,000 people, the Daily Mail reports. Describing the massacre to police, Azam Amir Kasab of Pakistan, 21, said his instructions were to “target whites, preferably Americans and British.” He...

Methodist Ministers Defy Ban on Marrying Gays

California clergy members ignoring church ban on officiating gay weddings

(Newser) - Methodist ministers in California are revolting against religious edicts that forbid them from performing same-sex marriages, the Los Angeles Times reports, in a struggle that many consider "the civil rights cause of their generation." Dozens of Methodist pastors have officiated at gay and lesbian weddings since they were...

For Internet Ministers, a Lark Becomes a Passion

Those who get ordained to perform a wedding keep coming back

(Newser) - It starts when friends asks you to officiate at their wedding, but it often doesn't end there. Many who become ministers with the click of a mouse—through the Universal Life Church or the Church of Spiritual Humanism—find themselves staying in the marriage business, the Chicago Tribune reports. Forging...

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